Conventionally, there has been proposed a connector of this kind, comprising an insulator, contacts, and a cover (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2006-85987).
The insulator includes an accommodating portion for accommodating a card, such as an IC card.
The contacts are held by the insulator.
The cover is pivotally mounted on the insulator. Further, the cover is capable of moving between a locked position and an open position along a longitudinal direction of the insulator. When the cover is in the locked position, the cover is locked to the insulator. When the cover is in the open position, the cover is unlocked from the insulator, and at the same time can be opened.
The cover is formed by blanking and bending a metal plate. The cover includes first and second card-holding portions for holding a card, a pair of arm portions, and a pair of shaft portions. A cross-section of each of the first and second card-holding portions is U-shaped. The pair of arm portions are each substantially leaf spring-shaped, and are each capable of being elastically deformed in a direction of a width of the card. The pair of shaft portions are each disposed on an inner surface of the respective arm portions (surface toward the card), and each protrude toward the card. The shaft portions are inserted into respective recesses formed in one end of the insulator from outside the insulator.
To mount the card in the connector, the cover is opened by sliding the cover to the open position, and the card is inserted into the first and second card-holding portions of the cover.
Thereafter, the cover is closed and is slid to the locked position.
When the cover reaches the locked position, contact portions of the contacts are brought into contact with pads of the card. As a result, the card is electrically connected to the connector.
To remove the card from the connector, it is only necessary to perform the above-mentioned mounting operation in reverse order.
In this connector, since the arm portions are capable of being elastically deformed in the width direction of the card, it is possible to insert and remove the shaft portions of the cover into and from the recesses of the insulator, so that it is possible to mount and remove the cover to and from the insulator with ease.